non-static method openFile() cannot be referenced from a static content

[superveggies]

How am I allowed to reference open file?

import java.io.*;

public class fileManager{
public String openFile(){
try{
String line;
StringBuffer document = new StringBuffer();
File inFile = new File("transactionlist.txt");
FileReader fileReader = new FileReader(inFile);
BufferedReader bufReader = new BufferedReader(fileReader);

while (true) {
line = bufReader.readLine();

if (line == null) break;

document.append(line);
}
}
catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println("File not found");
}
return null;
}
public String returnOpen(){
return fileManager.openFile();}
}

[mikeBarr81]

You're attempting to access a non-static method from the static context. By this I mean you're accessing the method via the class, rather than via an instance of the class. The way around this is to either create an instance of the class and use this to access the method, or to make the method static.

Before you do this though, why do you have a method that does nothing more than return the result of a different public method. The method returnOpen() is totally redundant because it doesn't do anything that the method openFile() doesn't do. You might as well get rid of it.

[superveggies]

But how do I change my code to fix the problem?

[mikeBarr81]

Well either make openFile() static, or make an instance of FileManager and use that to call openFile().

Either way, there's no need to have the method returnOpen() because all it does is call openFile(). Why not just call openFile() since it's a public method?